Listen in as Anthony Stalter and I discuss Willie Parker, Brady Quinn, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel and Donovan McNabb. We’ll also kick around a few sleeper QBs that have nice matchups this week.
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The opening and closing music is Dramarama’s “Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You),” which was actually one of the most requested songs of the ’80s on L.A.’s KROQ.
For the second week in a row, Patriots’ quarterback Matt Cassel threw for over 400 yards, only this time his effort wasn’t wasted as he led New England to a 48-28 victory over AFC East foe Miami.
It’s safe to say that New England has its offense back on track and Cassel is obviously a huge reason for that. It appears that Bill Belichick has taken the training wheels off of his quarterback, who has definitely earned the right to attempt more downfield passes.
The emergence of Cassel has made the Pats a dangerous team again, although their defense has been suspect the past two weeks against the Jets and Dolphins. Nothing against Chad Pennington because he’s been great this year for the Dolphins, but there’s no way a playoff caliber defense allows him to throw for 341 passes and three touchdowns. Although hey, at least Belichick figured out a way to defend the “Wildcat” formation after Ronnie Brown tore the Pats’ defense a new one in these team’s first meeting.
Has it just been two bad weeks for the Pats’ defense or have the Jets and Dolphins exposed a weakness?
This is why Ty Law (who was sitting on his couch when the Jets called him to play cornerback for them just days before they faced the Patriots on Thursday night) shouldn’t be covering Randy Moss when the game is on the line:
That was simply a phenomenal catch, but I don’t think enough is being made about Matt Cassel’s throw. Not only does he avoid the sack, but he also point the ball where only Moss could catch it – while on the run no less. Great play.
And to be far, Law didn’t have bad coverage on Moss, but why allow him to get a free release off the line?
Brett Favre gets traded to Jets + Tom Brady goes down for the season in Week 1 = Jets AFC East Champions. Right? Yes, although it certainly hasn’t been that easy.
Despite Patriots’ QB Matt Cassel throwing for a career-high 400 yards and three touchdowns, Jay Feely’s 34-yard field goal in overtime gave the Jets a thrilling 34-31 victory Thursday night in Foxboro. With the win, the Jets took over sole possession of first place in the AFC East at 7-3 on the year.
While watching the game (yes, I am one of the 34 people who have the NFL Network), I got the impression that the power has shifted a bit in the division. Not to say that New England is out of it because clearly Cassel is more than capable of leading the Pats to the playoffs, but Jet Favre has provided a spark in New York that had been missing at the quarterback position.
After the Jets decided to make the game interesting by allowing Cassel and the Patriots to march right up the field for a game-tying touchdown with only seconds remaining in regulation, New York won the opening toss and marched right up the field. I don’t want to get into all of the “vintage Favre” crap, but the drive was indicative of what Brett has done throughout his entire career. He made plays when the game was on the line and propelled his team to victory. Even though he has resurrected the Dolphins this season, I doubt Chad Pennington would have lead the Jets in the same fashion Thursday night.
The Jets face their toughest test of the season next week when they travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans. If they can muster a victory, they should be on easy street the rest of the year: vs. Denver, at. San Fran, vs. Buffalo, at Seattle, vs. Miami. Of those games, the Jets get the Bills and Dolphins – two division opponents – at home.
With their victory over the Pats, the Jets have now set themselves up to win the division. But obviously Bill Belichick and New England won’t go quietly so this is shaping up for a great battle down the stretch.
Week 11 in the NFL kicks off Thursday night with a matchup between the Jets and the Patriots that could determine which team wins the AFC East. Both teams currently sit at 6-3, but New England holds the head-to-head advantage after beating the Jets 19-10 in Week 2.
Many are deeming this a must win for the Jets and given the circumstances, that’s hard to argue. Teams that can’t win in their own division are usually the ones looking from the outside in come playoff time. And with the Jets losing to the Pats earlier this season, there’s even more onus on victory tonight.
Unfortunately for the Jets, they’re going to see a very different Matt Cassel than they did in Week 2. Even though he led his team to victory, Cassel wasn’t asked to do too much in the offense when he first took over for Tom Brady earlier this season. But over the past month, Cassel has given Bill Belichick reason to believe he can open up the passing game more, which even means running the no-huddle at various points during games.
Of course, this matchup always has an added dynamic to it considering Belichick would rather piss glass than lose to Eric Mangini. And it’s about time Mangini puts a great game plan together and finally knock off Belichick on a national stage. Even though they’re currently 6-3, the Pats are down this year and Mangini needs to take advantage of the situation. It might be dramatic to suggest this, but Thursday night might be now or never for Mangini to finally put the screws to his old boss and claim the division.
Tonight should be interesting. Jet Favre is playing better than he did a couple weeks ago when he was turning the ball over like candy on Halloween and the NY defense has been very opportunistic lately. Both of these teams are playing vastly different than they did in Week 2 and it should be a great battle for those 34 people who have the NFL Network.
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